It's Way Too Late for This
by lesbianpapyrus
Summary: Mettaton makes Burgerpants and the Nice Cream vendor work the graveyard shift. #13 of a series of Undertale ship drabbles for LGBT Pride Month.


"Is Boss fucking kidding me? I can't believe this. What the actual _hell."_

Burgerpants was really mad.

Like, really, _really_ mad.

His boss had called him and his coworker Everett, the former Nice Cream seller, into work to complete an 11 to 7 A.M. shift in the kitchens at the film studio.

"I know, I know. This sucks," Everett agreed, leaning on the counter. "But we gotta do it. At least we get extra pay, though. And he's letting us come in later tomorrow so we don't have to start our normal shift again at 7."

"Yeah, sure, but I don't want to be here all goddamn night!" Burgerpants fumed. "Why the hell couldn't Avery and Terri show up for work again?"

"Avery's mom died and Terri's coming back from her trip today."

"Oh." Those were good reasons not to show up for work. "Well, still. Did Boss _have_ to say we were free to work another shift? I just wanted to go home and sleep," he groaned.

"That better not be you I hear complaining, Burgerpants," sang out the metallic voice of Mettaton, dripping with fake sweetness. The robot had appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the kitchen where Burgerpants and Everett prepared food and refreshments. "Someone has to work the shift for the other actors who perform here at night. And you two _were_ free. Anyway. I'm going home—"

" _What?"_ Burgerpants yelped, earning a dangerous look from Mettaton.

"I'm going _home._ And I'll have someone check up on you to make sure you don't sleep on the job, or otherwise goof off," Mettaton warned, all fake sugariness gone. "I can't stay here to watch you all night, you know, I need my beauty rest. Just do whatever it is you normally do and you'll get your paychecks whenever they normally come." The robot sashayed out the door without another word.

Burgerpants clenched his fists. "God, I hate that guy," he growled under his breath.

Everett patted his back comfortingly. "Yeah, he's really insufferable sometimes," he said. "But hey, let's look on the bright side! We get to spend a lot more time together this way."

Burgerpants couldn't help but smile a little. His job had gotten a lot easier to tolerate now that Everett was his coworker. Some days it was almost enjoyable.

"Yeah, alright," he conceded. "I guess it's not so bad when we can hang out together."

Fortunately, there weren't too many people working who wanted food at midnight, so Burgerpants and Everett were able to talk for quite a while with no interruption.

"So, you just sleep when you get home normally?" Everett inquired.

"Yeah, pretty much," Burgerpants sighed. "I mean, I have an old video game console I'll fire up sometimes, and I have to do laundry every few days. But sleep is the number one priority for me usually."

"I see. That's understandable," Everett laughed. "I like to write when I'm at home. I want to write a novel someday. Or maybe a book of poetry. Something that a lot of people will enjoy." He stared over the kitchen pensively. "I just… I want to do something that will make people happy. Something that'll make them feel good, you know?"

Now Burgerpants felt kind of stupid. Everett was so selfless, and here he was, going on about how much he liked to sleep. "Yeah… yeah, I uh. I get that. I guess. I can't… can't really say that I've thought about it that much."

Everett grinned apologetically. "No, I know. I get where you're coming from, when you're stuck in a rut like this, it's hard to think of much else."

"Yeah." Burgerpants scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "You know, before I ended up here, I wanted to be an actor."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah… I came to Mettaton hoping he'd teach me to be a star. Well… be careful what you wish for, I guess."

"That sounds rough. I'm sorry to hear that." Everett really did look sorry.

Burgerpants tried to turn their conversation in a more positive direction. "Well, I mean. If being a star means becoming as annoying as Mettaton, maybe that wasn't really the life for me. In some ways I'd rather be poor and nice than rich and obnoxious."

Everett laughed out loud. "Yeah, me too. I guess that's why I liked running my Nice Cream stand so much, even if I didn't get a lot of business. The people who did come always left with a smile."

The rest of the eight-hour work shift seemed to fly by. The later it got, the more tired they became, and the more Burgerpants thought he was seeing things, but the two still managed to laugh, joke, and talk throughout without falling asleep for long.

Finally, it was 7 A.M.

"God, I'm ready to drop," Everett yawned.

"Me, too," Burgerpants agreed. Then an idea popped into his head and slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it. "You, uh… you wanna come over? To my place, I mean. I live pretty close by. We can just crash there, you know?"

To his surprise, Everett smiled. "Yeah, I'd really like that. Sure, I'll come over."

"Nice. Uh, I usually walk here… do you have a car or something you need to take?"

"Yeah, just give me the directions and I can drive us there."

"Okay, cool."

The night had turned out so much better than expected. Burgerpants had anticipated a disaster, and now his friend (the guy he liked!) was actually coming over to his apartment.

Burgerpants would have to thank Mettaton for making them do the graveyard shift. That'd wipe that gaudy smile off the robot's face for sure.


End file.
